Crossing the border with Blue Jays beat reporter Jordan Bastian.

Better Late Than Never

Well, for some reason, the MLBlogs system wouldn’t let me log in today and so you loyal Bastianites out there were left without a pregame post to help feed your daily Blue Jays banter. Of course, as I’m ready to depart the cavernous dome that Toronto dominates so well, the blogger is up and running.

So, no lineups for you all to digest, but I’ll offer my postgame thoughts. Dustin McGowan looked good tonight. No, his stuff didn’t look particularly dominant, but when he can walk away with those results (7 1/3 scoreless innings and only four hits allowed), under the circumstances, it’s pretty impressive.

Go back two starts, when McGowan admitted he was shaking off signs from Gregg Zaun in Boston, where the pitcher was afraid to throw his curve. He became one-dimensional and the BoSox sent him to the showers after a complete beatdown. McGowan said manager John Gibbons spoke with him about using the curve, even when it’s not at its best, and the pitcher has listened.

The result? No more win, loss, win, loss, etc; for an eighth straight outing. Over the past two starts, McGowan has allowed two runs and he’s picked up two straight wins. During this four-game set, Toronto has turned in three shutouts, courtesy of Josh Towers, Roy Halladay, McGowan and some zeroes from the relief corps.

Good timing, considering both Seattle and Minnesota are above the Jays in the Wild Card race. But it hasn’t just been the pitching. During the four-game winning streak — still hard to believe that’s the longest of the year, or maybe it’s really not hard to believe with all the injuries and lineup woes — Toronto has outscored its opponents 22-4.

A significant streak is needed if the Jays want to make any kind of impact in the Wild Card race. Four games won’t cut it. Toronto needs to use capitalize on the chance it has right now and issue a sweep over the Twins on Wednesday. That would be a 5-1 homestand before hitting the road to face the White Sox and Devil Rays — teams Toronto should, key word "should", beat.

Being a realist, I don’t think the Jays will be able to make up the ground it needs to cover to get back in the postseason hunt. I know, stranger things have happened, but right now I just don’t see it. If Jesse Litsch can show something tomorrow, and Towers can continue his run until A.J. Burnett returns, I guess anything’s possible. But it seems like a task far too tall with only 62 games left on the ol’ schedule.

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I agree that there is probably too little time in the schedule to make up the ground they need to make up but stranger things have happened. The Mariners are in a bit of a nose dive right now and the Indians have lost two straight to the BoSox. The Yankees are hot right now but the Jays have more games left with them so who knows? I wouldn’t put money on them but I’m interested to see if this team can put together the extended winning streak that has eluded them this season and last. I’m curious to see what Gibby’s lineup is going to be on Wednesday afternoon. He usually gives a few guys the day off when there is an afternoon game following a night game. I bet we see Clark at third and Thigpen behind the plate tomorrow and possibly Stairs in the lineup as well. Mind you, a day off on Thursday may convince Gibbons to put his best lineup out there to get the sweep.

I, at this point would be happy if they can simply duplicate last years record. To say that they have too little games left is an understatement. However if they can finish the season strong it’ll hopefully help the fringe fans in showing up for next year and if they can stay healthy then a wild-card spot (next year) is definitaly a possibility. If they go after David Eckstein in the offseason i’ll be happy. By the way a caller on Mike Wilners show asked J.P. specifically if he would be interested in a david Eckstein type of player and Riccardi responded with “i really like david” he couldn’t comment any further obviously but that suggests to me that he would at least be curious about it.

I didn’t end up watching the game today, but I must say that I am disappointed to have seen that Casey Janssen was used in a 7 to nothing game. Come on John, he couldn’t have gone to Tallet, Frasor, or anyone else who’s been used less? that was unnecassary.

It was a 4-0 game with a runner on first when Janssen came in. Tallet is more of a long relief guy, and Gibbons was probably saving him in case he would be needed to pitch multiple innings if Litsch had a poor outing tomorrow.

i agree with torgen that putting janessen was the right move because it was 4-0 that time.

i too am anxious to see the lineup today, even though they have a day off tomorrow i don’t think we will see glaus.

oh and i think 62 games is alot we have i htink 8 games to make up and we have almost 8 times the chances. If bluejays can get it going especially in the games that matter and against the teams that matter then we may still be in the race. you never know.

Well, when we came out of NY, I would have said it’s over as well. BUT

The Jays appear to be on a roll, and if you compare the schedules of Cleveland, Boston, New York and Toronto, we have the lighest schedule through to the end of August. In addition, a lot of teams above us play each other over the next month-particulary Cleveland-Detroit.

We could be as few as 7 games back tonight in the wild card if both Boston and ourselfs win.

So call me an optimist, but if we can keep playing like we have with both pitching and timely hitting-it ain’t over yet.

There’s also good reason to feel the hitting will continue. With the exception of Rios, every other hitter we have is below their normal yearly output and BA. Baseball is always a game of averages, so I feel the pendulum could “over” sweep as far in the other direction for us and our hitters could go on a tear.

From here on in, this team gets stronger each and every day. If nothing else, we’re going to see what this team is capable of over the next 6 weeks-but don’t give up hope just quite yet.

Bosox
Its not uncommon for a “small” team to have to pay part of a players salary or any team for that matter. The best one that comes to mind is Texas who pays a portion of A-Rod’s salary. (They agreed to pay 4mil signing bonus and 67mil of the remaining 179mil ). I am sure they will be ecstatic when they can dump that , we are talking big bucks. I never have agreed with that part of ball .I think if another team wants a player they should have to take over his contract . Players have become a commodity but then baseball is a business

firstly i think JP should sign eckstein and i have expressed my view earlier on why. Now if David eckstein is signed then i believe he is a lead-off kind of guy. That would leave little use for johnson with lind coming up.

Now if we sign eckstein for 2-3 years then we wait until kevin ahrens comes up and takes over at ss. Until then eckstein stays here. Now with eckstien here there might not be a huge need for santos and that i believe would allow us to use him in a trade.

Furthermore with lind coming up and having eckstein johnson might not be needed. Therefore we johnson might also be used in a trade and bring lind up. Re-sign Stairs for the 4th outfeilder and if god-forbid an injury occurs to lind rios and wells we can bring up another kid from minors to majors such as griffin (think he is an outfeilder) because then stairs i think might be good enough to do the everyday job. We could always go the other way and trade lind however i don’t like that since he is young and if he can do anything he did last september then he is a good batter to have.

So if eckstein is signed we got johnson or lind and santos we can trade. Now if JP asks bedard’s agent if he really does wanna come to TO then how about this offer. Burnett and Santos or Burnett and Johnson (not lind) for Bedard. I believe that it would be good for the Orioles and good for us.

If the orioles are unwilling to trade bedard then we can ask bedard to tell the O’s to be traded and then maybe O’s will accept offer. Although i doubt any player would do that.

I think there are alot of opions on here so could you guys leave some feedback on it.

one more thing wat position does Snider play? and when do u think he will be up in the majors?

Indigo trust me the last book is the best and it’s just so sad that the epic saga of the harry potter books is gone however i will advise u to read till the end and just say that Dumbledore will never truly be gone until there’s none who’s loyal to him.(something like that)

Personally, I’m not that hot on Eckstein-for two reasons. Number one, by the time spring training rolls around he’ll be 33 and definately in the back end of his career. Second, he already makes 4.6 million, so it’s likely it’ll cost 6 mill per year for 2-3 years, and we’ll be tying ourselves down to a contract like the Yanks have with old players.

The other issue is, I don’t think we’d get anything of value for Santos, and there’s no way the Jays would trade Lind or Johnson and keep Stairs.

Bedard is not going anywhere until he becomes a free agent. Baltimore would be crazy to trade him. Snider plays left field, and you can watch his progress at the following site:

i saw merchan he is impressive and i would certainly trade for him but like u said he isn’t gonna be ready to play short next year so that is of no use to us next year unless u wanna stick with mcdonald. And JP himself said that he like David.

I understand that David is 33 then how about sign him to 2 year deal 33-35 he probably won’t be in his prime but i’m certain he can still play. 6 million might be alot however if he wants to play here and with good negotiating we might be able to get him for a little less. Plus if we trade burnett then we will have enough money to sign him and 5-6 millin isn’t gonna be a problem.

I didn’t wanna get rid of johnson and lind just one of them. And certainly not now but in the off-season. Especially with Wells here for 8 years and rios here and lind and snider coming up. You know that johnson, is probably gonna leave. Why not now? True sinder is still about 1-2 years away from majors but then again lind is ready next year. Therefore we got a major logjam for the outfeild. Think about it out of these 5 which 3 would u keep lind, johnson, wells, rios and snider. I would keep the latter 3 however seeing as snider is 1-2 years away keep lind or johnson for those 2 years and trade the other. If riccardi thinks we can make a serious run for the play-offs then keep stairs other-wise get rid of him and sign him back agian in the off-season. ALso stairs comes cheaper than johnson and lind.

and you are right we might not get any trade value for santos although if put together in a package it might work. A package somewhat like what brought him here in the first place.

If the orioles are gonna be sellers this season then i don’t understand why then don’t get rid of bedard and get alot in return. Orioles know that he probably doesn’t wanna stay there.

I do like Merchan and think he could make it with us-particualry with extra help from Macdonald and Buttefield. He’s a good contact hitter with speed, so even if he struggles, he shouldn’t struggle for long. My concern is Phillie will want more than Towers for him. But we also have Santos as a potential. I think it makes more sense to explore those possibilities than signing some 33 year old on the downside of his career.

This team is going to contend next year, we need both Lind and Johnson. If anyone gets let go it will be Stairs. Snider is likely 2-3 years away-remember he’s only 19. When he makes it, then one of the outfielders will get traded, but not likely until then.

We will not trade Burnett-count on it. He’s got too much potential. And frankly, our rotation next year of Halliday, Burentt, Marcum, McGowan and either Chacin or Litsche looks really good to me.

yes halladay burnett mcgowan marcum and towers/chacin/litsch is good however halladay bedard and the rest is even better. But if orioles aren’t willing to trade then we should keep burnett and hope he doesn’t become too injury prone.

Onto merchan sure he might be good and with the help of mcdonald and butterfield he might get better and good enough to play in the majors however i would rather go with a vet in this situation since the jays are gonna be contenders. and eckstein has some experience in the post season too.

You are correct johnson and lind perhaps should be traded and if we do let go off stairs how are we gonna solve the situitation next year in the out field. Johnson Lind Rios and Wells cause frankly all 4 are starters while stairs is a back-up and that’s why i wanted to keep him.

i saying what will u do with our out-feild situitation keep lind on the bench? too young and valuable to do that. Keep johnson? only lead-off guy if we don’t get eckstein? keep wells? 128 million gone down the drain + best CF out there keep rios? best jays player no way u can keep him on he bench.

how is everybody today,We don’t know the story on johnson remember back surgery is no joke he may need this rest,The jays GM likes to keep this information in house so they may not tell us the truth.

As for glaus I said before he’s lame but he’s game that means he will play with a lot of pain and not show it but it will afect his performance this I know I used to train harness horses and some of them would race through a lot of pain not unlike glaus.

If we go on a roll we really can’t afford to trade anyone,we will need Towers and Stairs,If burnett comes back it can only help.

When Chacin comes back trade him and Lind and a prospect???? for Beddard.

It is very uncommon for a small market team to pay salaries for the big market teams. The A-Rod ordeal is a very rare situtation. You say it is common, I would like to here more cases. Sox are known to buy themselves out of the situations they got themselves in. Case and point Edgar Reintara, he didn’t fit in Boston so they decided to pay most if not all of his salary in 06 and alot of it in 07 to get Marte so they could ship Marte to Cleveland to get Crisp.

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